I need your help.  We’re looking for Master Speakers and we need your nominations.  

Here’s the back story.  As you know very well, we’re awash in data, information, and news 24/7.  Far too much mental stuff floats past our consciousness on a daily basis.  Thus, the success of that modern marvel, the Internet, has created the need for curation.  If we’re interested in some area of expertise, we need someone to narrow it down for us, because the Internet provides us with too much of everything.

Curation.  I’ve been thinking about that concept in the context of the world of public speaking, and how increased competition and more speakers in general has meant that someone looking for a speaker today will have a very difficult time narrowing down their search from thousands to a manageable few.  

You can of course rely on the people you’ve already heard of, the few speakers you’ve encountered in the course of your professional life, or perhaps even the ones you’ve met by chance at a restaurant or a ballgame.  

But that’s hardly a curated list and that approach will make it hard for you to break out of your own bubble of interests and work.  

Accordingly, I’ve decided to ask for everyone’s help in developing a curated list of roughly 50 of the world’s best professional speakers.  Whom have you seen that was top notch?  I want your nominations for professional speakers, appropriate for a business conference, on topics of relevance to the business world and organizational life generally, who in your estimation are among the very, very best.  

I’m seeding the list with six of the very best speakers I’ve encountered as a coach.  I’ve worked with each of these six in the past, and watched them get better and better, and I can vouch for the excellence of their content, their delivery, and their professionalism.  

But I don’t want to stop there, and I don’t want the list to be confined to people I know or have worked with.  So please, nominate your best candidates.  Send me a very brief statement covering 1) who they are; 2) what they talk about; 3) why they’re great; and 4) a link to a speech of theirs.  

Remember, we’re talking about current professionals.  So please don’t nominate Martin Luther King, Jr, or your favorite college professor, or the like.  Only current, top-notch, professional speakers will be considered.  

The goal is to add slowly to the list until we reach approximately 50 names.  The Master Speakers.  The best of the best.  The ones with world-changing content, captivating delivery, and true professionalism as a speaker.  

And meet the first six Master Speakers:  David Meerman Scott, Sally Hogshead, Tim Sanders, Susan Ershler, Ryan Estis, and Josh Linkner.  

If you want to hire one of these speakers for your event, you can reach out to me or directly to them via the websites listed.  I will simply pass on the information; I’m not taking a cut.  I’m vouching for these speakers – that’s it.  

Whom do you think should be added to the list?

Many Thanks

Nick